Santosh Dash

Assistant Professor of Economics at the Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) @IRMAOfficial79
Views @businessline @the_hindu
Retweets not endorements.

[Dr. GYANA DAS @gyana_r_das]

Grace of God. Obliged to the Rescue teams.

[Ron Filipkowski @RonFilipkowski]

Remember when Trump kidnapped Maduro and Rick Scott and a bunch of south FL Republicans told Venezuelan-Americans this was all about liberating the country so free & fair elections could be held to oust the remainder of the Maduro regime, and I said it was all about stealing oil.

[menaka doshi @menakadoshi]

"My eldest aunt was swept away. So was her son, my dai Madhu, and his wife. My other aunt — gone too, they told me. Her grandson Sijan and his wife, caught in the same water. His own son and daughter-in-law, unreachable, unaccounted for. My maternal uncle had gone out that morning to cut grass for the cattle. He never came back."

A village disappears in an instant.

Numbing account. https://t.co/uYEWHJn0dU

[scott cunningham @causalinf]

Pleased to announce that Tuesday my new book came out. But the three free version is here, and I thought I’d share what i consider to be the strengths of it. 1/n

https://t.co/lScfcLqPoV

[Manas Muduli @manas_muduli]

From a daily-wage family in Rayagada to securing an MBBS seat at SLN Medical College, Koraput - Kabita Hikaka’s journey is truly inspiring.

Now, a Rs 7 lakh college expenses stands between this determined Kondha girl and her dream of becoming a doctor.

A student of Odisha Adarsha Vidyalaya (OAV), Bhubaneswar, she scored 90.8% in Class X and 77% in Class XII, before cracking NEET with an ST rank of 137 and overall rank of 4,027.

Hope people and govt steps in to support her. 🙏

[Debiprasad @AskLipun]

Congress & Rahul Gandhi often speak about “smashing patriarchy.”

Before lecturing India on patriarchy, remember Anjana Mishra—an Odisha woman who fought abuse, institutional failure, powerful men and the Congress ecosystem.

An IFS officer, the then Advocate General & the then CM who later became a Governor were all part of this dark chapter.

Her story remains one of Odisha’s most disturbing political episodes. 🧵

#AnjanaMishra #Odisha #SmashPatriarchy #Congress #WomenRights

[BDA BBSR @BDA_BBSR]

Thank you, Sanjay Mishra Ji, for your encouraging words on the Babasaheb Bhim Rao Ambedkar Bus Terminal (BSABT). Your appreciation is truly motivating & inspires us to continue our efforts to maintain the terminal and provide clean & comfortable experience for passengers.
#BSABT

[Atif Mian @AtifRMian]

A 🧵on India vs China in indigenizing Science.

Science is first-order for development. Both India and China have produced large numbers of high-quality STEM Phds in the U.S.

But there's a big gap in *indigenizing* science back home ...
1/n

[Kaushik Barua @Airawat]

This morning, alert staff from Lanka Range of @assamforest along with the loco-pilot of 167/8 down Rajdhani Express with support from the control room in-charge, Lumding Station under @RailNf averted a major accident from happening involving elephants on the Habipur section.

[Elephant Monitors Assam @AssamElephant]

The ways in which we tried to get treatment and help for Durga and how all institutions failed her and her unborn calf ultimately. https://t.co/7GhJDDYmXB

[scott cunningham @causalinf]

My new book Causal Inference: the Remix comes out in two weeks (Aug 25). It’s with Yale University Press like the mixtape had been. And it’s basically the 2nd edition too, but it has a different title — go figure. The online version is now up!

https://t.co/lScfcLqPoV

[Manas Muduli @manas_muduli]

A major concern for Odisha.

The MMDR amendment could make the state lose around ₹12,000 crore in annual mineral-related revenue and over ₹1 lakh crore in outstanding dues, according to estimates cited by Business Standard.

For a mineral-rich state, this deserves serious attention.

[Firstpost @firstpost]

Multinational food brands often sell products with different ingredients across markets, raising concerns about nutrition, regulation, and consumer transparency in India.

Food MNCs frequently alter product formulations, raising questions about whether Indian consumers receive the same quality standards as consumers elsewhere.

Writes @ToufiqRashid

[Manas Muduli @manas_muduli]

This is Odisha during the monsoon.

Raw. Green. Majestic.

[Manas Muduli @manas_muduli]

In a recent interview with News18 Odia, Subroto Bagchi shared a deeply personal decision when asked about his donations.

He said, “We have two daughters, and they told us they don’t want to inherit our money.”

That inspired Subroto Bagchi and his wife, Susmita Bagchi, to dedicate most of their wealth to the service of society.

Their major contributions till date:

> Rs 340 crore for the Cancer Super Speciality Hospital & Palliative Care in Bhubaneswar.
> Rs 212.5 crore for an 800-bed multi-speciality hospital at the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bengaluru.
> Rs 55 crore to establish the Bagchi School of Public Health at Ahmedabad University.

What makes the story even more remarkable is that Subroto Bagchi still doesn’t own a car and continues to travel in hired vehicles.

A legacy built not on possessions, but on purpose.

[THE SKIN DOCTOR @theskindoctor13]

He's Tukaram Mundhe, a 2005-batch IAS from Maharashtra.

Over the last few weeks, you might have heard his name. That is because he was recently appointed Commissioner of State’s Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Since taking charge, the FDA has been on an absolute warpath, raiding illegal, fake, synthetic, and adulterated products. From synthetic milk networks and adulterated paneer to illegal gutkha and unhygienic eateries, nothing has escaped his radar.

Mundhe has made it clear that even the most famous names will not get a free pass. His department shocked Mumbai by suspending the food licenses of iconic establishments, such as the 73-year-old Marine Drive ice cream parlor K. Rustom & Co., alongside famous eateries like Shalimar Hospitality, Noor Mohammadi Hotel, and Rahmaniya Restaurant, after surprise inspections uncovered severe hygiene violations, including live pests and expired ingredients.

Such is the fear of his crackdowns that, just two days ago, dairy farmers were caught on video spilling hundreds of liters of synthetic milk after rumors of an impending FDA raid spread.

This is his 25th transfer in a 21-year career, a testament to his refusal to bend to political pressure. It makes you wonder: if just one IAS officer can bring about so much change, where would our country be if every bureaucrat were as uncompromising and proactive as him?

[Malay Krishna @Malay4Product]

I taught JEE physics for years. That paper breaks strong kids in three hours.

This exam is five hours of theory and five hours of lab work, and these five did close to perfect scores on it.

Let me tell you what actually happened.

The International Physics Olympiad is the world championship of school physics. It was the 56th edition. Held in Bucaramanga, Colombia, from July 5 to 12.

381 students. More than 85 countries. Every one of them the best physics student their country could find.

India sent five kids.

All five came back with gold.

Their names are Kanishk Jain from Pune. Riddhesh Anant Bendale from Indore. Rishit Garg from Dwarka in Delhi. Shresth Suraiya from Mumbai. Svarit Joshi from Ahmedabad.

We know a hundred cricketers by their nickname and not one of these boys. :)

That clean sweep put India at joint World Number One. Tied with China, Russia, Kazakhstan, South Korea and Taiwan.

Those are countries that pour serious money and national pride into science education. We are standing level with them.

Now here is what the exam actually was.

Two papers. Each five hours long.

The theory paper had three problems. One on the thermodynamics of paramagnetic cooling. One on the photoionisation of ozone. One on the dynamics of electron positron pairs.

The experimental paper was another five hours in a lab, working through heat transfer and thermodynamic processes in fluids.

That means you get given equipment you have never seen, and you have to design your own experiment, take your own readings, handle the errors, and reach a real answer.

Not multiple choice. No shortcuts. No pattern recognition. You either understand physics or you sit there for five hours.

HBCSE says the Indian students were near perfect on theory and excellent on the practical too.

Now, this was India's 27th appearance at the IPhO.

Across all those years, about 44 percent of Indian students have won gold, 41 percent silver, 10 percent bronze.

In the last ten years, every single Indian student has come home with a medal. 62 percent gold, 38 percent silver.

Not one kid has gone and come back empty handed in a decade.

Five golds in one year has happened only twice. This year, and in 2018.

So who built this.

The programme is run by HBCSE, the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. It sits under TIFR, which sits under the Department of Atomic Energy.

They run the whole funnel. A national exam, then a national olympiad, then a brutal selection and training camp, and out of everyone in the country, five kids get on a plane.

The team was led by Professor Anwesh Mazumdar of HBCSE-TIFR and Dr Leena Joshi from St Xavier's College, Mumbai.

The scientific observers were Professor Ananda Dasgupta from IISER Kolkata and Nisha Kelkar from Gogate-Joglekar College in Ratnagiri.

Yes. Ratnagiri. A college in a small coastal town in Maharashtra.

This is public education doing something the private coaching industry could never do on its own.

The coaching industry is very good at one thing. Teaching you to solve a known problem fast.

That is what JEE and NEET reward, and I say that with love because I was part of that world.

But an olympiad paper does not have a known type. There is no shortcut chapter. There is no formula sheet that saves you. You have to sit with a problem you have never seen and think.

That is a completely different muscle. And a government funded centre has been quietly building it in Indian teenagers for 27 years.

So yes, be proud. Loudly.

HBCSE also shared that around 64 percent of India's olympiad medallists go on to do a PhD.

But only about 32 percent of medallists end up settling in India.

I do not say that to spoil the moment. These kids owe the country nothing. They earned every option they have.

But it should tell us something. We are excellent at finding this talent. We are excellent at training it. We are still not great at giving it somewhere worth staying.

Congratulations Kanishk, Riddhesh, Rishit, Shresth and Svarit. This is one of the best things an Indian did this year and most of the country will never hear about it.

[Vikas Vij @TheClubJunto]

NSE & Jio IPOs: 75% Chance They Will Under-perform an FD

(a) Measured from listing-day price, 15 of 20 largest IPOs (Issue Size: 8K cr+) have failed to beat FD returns to date (b) 50% remain in outright losses after all these years

Performance of Top 20 IPOs

When a company's IPO size is very large, the weight of its own valuation destroys its ability to deliver returns to retail shareholders.

Here’s the data of 20 largest IPOs in Indian capital market history:

1. IPO (Issue Size: ₹8,000 cr+)
2. Years Held
3. Annualized Return

Zomato (4.9 yrs) +17.9%
SBI Life (8.7 yrs) +10.7%
HDFC Life (8.6 yrs) +7.9%

Vishal Mega (1.5 yrs) +4.8%
Hyundai (1.7 yrs) +1.2%
Coal India (15.6 yrs) +2.8%
LIC (4.1 yrs) +0.4%
DLF (19 yrs) +0.3%
SBI Cards (6.3 yrs) -1.3%
GIC India (8.7 yrs) -1.7%
New(I) Assu (8.6 yrs) -7.3%
NTPC Green (1.6 yrs) -9.2%
One97 Paytm (4.6 yrs) -11.9%
HDB Fin (1.0 yrs) -12.4%
Rel Power (18.4 yrs) -13.1%
Hexaware (1.3 yrs) -26.1%
Swiggy (1.6 yrs) -26.7%

LG Elec (0.7 yrs) -10.2%*
Tata Cap (0.7 yrs) +9.8%*
ICICI P AMC (0.6 yrs) +67%*

NOTES:

a. LG Electronics, Tata Capital, ICICI Pru AMC: These are less than one-year old IPOs. So, there is no annualized return yet. Absolute return since listing is provided.

b. 15 out of 20 (75%) IPOs in the above list have delivered below-FD returns (calculated from the listing-day price to their current market price.)

c. 10 out of 20 (50%) in the above list are sitting at outright losses, years after listing (from their listing-day price.)

d. Zomato is the only real outlier @ 17.9% annualized return in this mega IPO list. Zomato struck gold post-IPO with Blinkit acquisition. So, investors awarded it with rich PE multiples.

Listing PE to Nifty PE Ratio

a. Investors should look at this number: IPO Listing PE ÷ Nifty PE. This number shows how expensive the IPO’s listing-day price is relative to the market average.

b. Examples: NTPC Green listed @ 14x PE premium to Nifty PE; DLF @ 11x; LIC @ 9x; Vishal @ 5x; SBI Cards @ 3.5x; Coal India @ 2.7x.

c. Jio & NSE IPOs: Jio and NSE may price their IPOs @ 45-50x PE (2x to 2.5x issue price premium to Nifty PE). Listing-price PE multiples may be much higher.

d. When you pay a high multiple for a company on day one, you have already paid for years of future growth. The company will grow, but the stock will not grow because the promoter has already pocketed the next few years of growth on day one.

“This Time It’s Different”

In the olden days, during every hot IPO, people queued outside bank branches and took loans to invest. Every uncle at family gatherings would ask: “Have you applied?”

Jio Platforms and NSE are both great companies. But the promoters may not leave anything on the table – just like SpaceX IPO in the US.

Full “FOMO premium” from retail investors will be extracted. WhatsApp forwards, X influencers, and TV anchors will call them “generational opportunities.”

“This time it’s different.” There’s a reason Sir John Templeton called these the four most dangerous words in investing.

@arabicatrader

[Santosh Dash @Econ_Santosh]

Given the possibility of drivers missing an exit, a second exit point could be considered to reduce the risk of dangerous manoeuvres and prevent such avoidable accidents.

[Shiv Aroor @ShivAroor]

9,000 people die annually on Indian roads specifically from wrong side driving or stationary/slow vehicles on expressways.

The Dehradun Expressway crash that has wiped out 4 of a family is only the latest.

[Eknoor Singh Bajwa @eknoorbajwa90]

Today, I saw a many truck drivers driving with his window wide open under the burning sun. It wasn’t because he wanted to it was because the heat inside the truck was unbearable. He was risking his own safety just to feel a little breeze.

That moment made me think… while most of us travel in air-conditioned comfort, these men spend endless hours on the road, through scorching heat, heavy rain, and freezing nights, just to make sure food reaches our tables, medicines reach hospitals, and goods reach every corner of the country.

They are the silent heroes who keep our nation’s economy moving, yet many of them don’t receive the salary, dignity, or respect they truly deserve.

The next time you see a truck driver on the road, don’t judge him or argue with him over small things. A little patience and respect can mean more than you realize.

I also sincerely request the government to introduce a fair minimum salary standard and better working conditions for truck drivers, so they can live with the dignity they have earned through their hard work.

Behind every truck on the highway is a person sacrificing comfort, time with family, and often even their own health to keep India moving 🙏🏻😇
@PMOIndia @narendramodi @nitin_gadkari